International Journal of Development and Sustainability ISSN: 2186-8662 – www.isdsnet.com/ijds Volume 4 Number 4 (2015): Pages 461-478 ISDS Article ID: IJDS15011001 Motivations for settlement in new towns in a developing country: A case study of Andisheh new town, Iran Bahar Manouchehri 1*, Masoumeh Tork 2, Hossein Vahidi 3 1 La Trobe University, Bendigo, Australia 2 Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran 3 Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan Abstract New towns are built to facilitate resolving the social, economic, and environmental problems of large cities, and are a response to the overconcentration of population and economic activities inside them. In this study, the reasons of selecting new towns from residents’ points of view have been studied. In this regard, Andisheh new town which has been located in southwest of Tehran urban complex is selected as a case study. Andisheh new town is assessed through using the data of Iran statistics Center, completing a questionnaire by the citizens of the town, field observation, data analysis by using statistical analysis and C Correlation Coefficient. The findings of the research indicate that Andisheh new town, in addition to being successful in the field of attracting population, has achieved success in providing affordable property for the citizens, which is also the main reason that the residents have chosen this new town. Keywords: New town; Andisheh new town; Statistical analysis; C Correlation Coefficient Published by ISDS LLC, Japan | Copyright © 2015 by the Author(s) | This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. * Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] International Journal of Development and Sustainability Vol.4 No.4 (2015): 461-478 1. Introduction In our contemporary urban developments, the world is moving into a new era of rapid urbanization. The problems of traffic congestion, air pollution and the impersonalized isolation of urban sprawl are growing. To deal with these problems the concept of creating new towns spread across the world with the creation of planned communities (Merlin, 2005; Halberg et al., 2008). The new towns were built to facilitate resolving the social, economic, and environmental problems of large cities (Hui and Lam, 2005; Varesi and Ghanbari, 2012). At present, the “new towns” pattern has been accepted as a basis for organization and spatial refinement of big cities and establishing regional spatial order and balance (Ghamami, 2008; Seyed Fatemi and Hosainzadeh-Dalir, 2010). In implantation of spatial planning in metropolitan areas, one of the main purposes is equilibrium distribution of population across the land so that there would be no harm to environment. In this planning, various solutions has been suggested towards achieving this important purpose. One of the spatial strategies suggestion in regards to optimal population distribution and preventing unbalanced growth of population particularly in metropolitan, is to establish new cities within proper distance from big cities. In Iran, Most of new towns have been designed to absorb additional population and distributing services (Iranmanesh and Bigdeli, 2012). One of these significant new towns in Iran is Andisheh new town which has been located in southwest of Tehran urban complex and is the most populated new towns in the urban complex of Tehran. The aim of this paper is to study and analyze the reasons of selecting Andisheh new town from residents’ points of view. 2. Background of new towns New towns are the result of the modern wave of urban planning which was founded after the World War II (Seyed Fatemi and Hosainzadeh-Dalir, 2010). The background of developing new towns in the world is often recognized by their formation in UK and France. London and Paris are recognised as the first urban communities with satellite towns in the world that several new towns were formed in their outskirts to decentralize their urban structure (Seyed Fatemi and Hosainzadeh-Dalir, 2010). The recent history of new towns is based on Howard's influential Garden City. In his book “Garden Cities of Tomorrow” (significantly first published in 1898 as Tomorrow: the peaceful path to real reform) Howard (1902) showed his revulsion against the unhealthy conditions of the industrial cities (Turner, 1980). The aim of creating Garden City was to combine the best features of both rural and urban life, without the problems. The Garden City was to be a self-sufficient settlement surrounded by a green belt, with no more than 32,000 and linked to other Garden Cities forming a network of settlements called the Social City (Howard, 1902; Hall and Ward, 1998; Hobson, 1999). In the third world countries, the 'modern' new town first arrived in the early twentieth century. Since 1945, new towns have been used as a tool by post-colonial governments for different aims (Gilbert and 462 ISDS www.isdsnet.com International Journal of Development and Sustainability Vol.4 No.4 (2015): 461-478 Gugler, 1981; Turner, 1980; Stewart, 1996). In response to problems in big cities, new twin urban communities have been built, as in Mumbai, and, closest to Howard's theory, satellite towns around huge towns, such as Cairo and Shanghai (Hobson, 1999). In developing countries the purpose of establishing new towns was to meet the requirements of physical expansion originated from urban development in the metropolitans (Faramarzi Asli and Khojasteh Ghamari, 2012). In Iran, the urban areas suffer from many problems that damaged natural resources (Shahraki, 2014). After Islamic Revolution in Iran and the changes it brought about, the urban population is about 70 million and it has been estimated to reach 100 million in the year 2021. The number of towns is more than 950 now and it will become 1900 in 2021 (Nourinejhad, 2006; Asli and Ghamari, 2012). In spite of strategies and efforts of government during this period to keep balance urban network, most of the country’s population centralized in some big cities such as Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad, Shiraz and Tabriz, and the total populace of these cities shifted between 20- 25% in distinctive censuses, which shows the centralization of population in substantial cities and emerge of metro-poles in Iran (Yaghoubzadeh and Amiri, 2011; Pakzad et al., 2007). In 1985, Iranian ministry of accommodation considered three national strategies in order to encounter with problems of city population of the country (Ostrofski, 2000). One of them was constructing new towns. The new towns have been developed mostly around Iran's main metropolitan areas such as Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz, Zahedan, and Mashhad (Ziari and Gharakhlou, 2009). Following this issue, the construction of 28 new towns was included in the work plan of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MHUD) (Ziari and Gharakhlou, 2009). The new cities in Iran are built for special purposes such as: Scientific city : such as Pardis Industrial city for the housing of Isfahan's steel industry workers: such as Poolad Shahr Intended for home the staff of Tehran’s international airport: such as Parand To offer homes for the sugar industry people: such as ShirinShar Homes the employees of a sugar cane processing plant: such as Shushtar To house the Tehran's majority population: such as Tehranpars and Andisheh Remedy the water and sewage infrastructure problems of the Zabol big city: such as Ramshar (Ministry of housing and town building, 2003; Shahraki, 2014) The most common type of new town in Iran is satellite new towns. Iranmanesh and Bigdeli (2012) stated that the continuous increasing of population in major cities of Iran is the main reason of establishing this type of new town in this country. This pattern has been used around large cities especially in Tehran and their major roles are absorbing additional population of large cities and spatial organization of main city such as Shahin Shahr, Hashtgerd, Parand and Andisheh cities in Tehran (Iranmanesh and Bigdeli, 2012). Tehran, as a capital of Iran, has five new towns: Pardis, Parand, Andisheh, Hashtgerd and Latyan. The location of these five new towns has been accomplished according to these criteria: Having adequate distance from large cities and suitable access to access network in the region ISDS www.isdsnet.com 463 International Journal of Development and Sustainability Vol.4 No.4 (2015): 461-478 The possibility of providing the fundamental necessities of infrastructure facilities such as electricity, water and power The possibility of utilizing of potential economic abilities Not near to agricultural areas Having adequate qualification to establish the city according to requested material and human power Having adequate qualification in topography, climate, environmental, and pleasant views (Iranmanesh and Bigdeli, 2012). The construction of these new towns around Tehran follows the objectives of absorbing the overflow population of Tehran and its urban area, preventing rise of real property price in Tehran, decentralization of Tehran city and offering housing to low-income groups (Ziari and Gharakhlou, 2009). 3. Case Study Identifying and studying the objective area is considered one of the main parts of a research. In order to decentralize and absorb the overpopulation of populous big cities such as Tehran, preventing uncontrolled expansion of big cities, balance the social and economic growth and control the migrants movements, policy of creating new towns was put in order by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning (Iranmanesh and Bigdeli, 2012; Population and Housing Censuses, 2011). Iran’s ministry of urban planning and housing approved the plan of Tehran urban complex in 2002. The urban complex of Tehran includes 9 cities: Tehran, Damavand, Ray, Shemiranat, Karaj, Varamin, Eslamshahr, Savoojbolag and Shahriyar and the main aim of this design is decentralization. The population of urban complex of Tehran in the last population census (2011) is approximately 12 million people (Iranmanesh and Bigdeli, 2012; Population and Housing Censuses, 2011).